I came of age musically listening to Classic Rock Radio, specifically Q-107 in Toronto. And I came to loathe virtually all CanCon played. (Obvious exceptions: Neil Young and Joni Mitchell when they counted, Rush. No The Band doesn’t usually count.) And so I figured I loathed Chilliwack, though I couldn’t name a song. Another albums …
Tag: AOR
Private Eyes (1981) by Daryl Hall and John Oates
For years and years, I avoided Hall & Oates because I assumed they were yacht rock. I was only vaguely aware of their songs and sound – actually the only song of theirs I really knew was their cover of “Jingle Bell Rock.” I became vaguely interested in Daryl Hall once I knew about his …
Foreigner 4 (1981)
Foreigner were big too early for me – I wasn’t born when this album was released and was just born when its second single came out – but were too late and too poppy to fit into classic rock radio once I discovered it in the ’90s. (Well, I speak for this version of the …
Top Gun Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986) by Various Artists
Like everyone else my age, I have seen Top Gun more than a few times. Unlike virtually every other boy my age, I didn’t like it. I think it’s because I recognized it was dumb but more because everything else I knew seemed to love it. And I was already watching old war movies and …
Don’t say No (1981) by Billy Squier
I’m pretty sure the first time I heard “The Stroke” was in an arena. I had no idea what it was and I couldn’t figure out why half the audience (at least) seemed to know the song. Too recent to be “classic rock” when I was growing up and too “rock” (I guess) for those …
Hi Infidelity (1980) by REO Speedwagon
I approached this album with trepidation, mostly because my knowledge of REO Speedwagon consists of two things: their ’80s singles and their supposed career arc from boogie rock band (or something) to pop rock sellouts. (I have no idea how true the latter is, but I read it ant an impressionable age.) I think I …
Crimes of Passion (1980) by Pat Benatar
So, well all know “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”. In fact, off the top of my head, it’s the only Pat Benatar song I know. (I have some vague memory of some other video but I wasn’t even born when this album came out.) So the question for this album is, how does the …
Heart (1985)
All I know of Heart is their ’70s hits, which used to get played on classic rock radio a lot. (I don’t know if they still are.) I’ve heard most (all?) of these hits but I had no idea that they were Heart, in part because they sound so different, and in part because I …
Wilson Phillips (1990)
My memory of “Hold On” was that it was catchier than it is. I’m not saying it’s not catchy, it totally is. But I’m not sure it’s as memorable as I remembered it being. (I have some vision of somebody – in a film? – singing along to it.)
1984 by Van Halen
I know when I listened to Van Halen’s debut album – I think the only album of theirs I’ve actually listened to all the way through before this one – I was thinking it lacked one thing: synthesizers. The decision to add a cheesy ’80s synth to a sound that was already pretty fucking dumb …
Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993) by Meat Loaf
Full disclosure: I don’t like the original Bat Out of Hell. I know most of the words to the songs and probably even most of the words in the spoken word parts. But I hate what that record represents – nostalgia meets the Broadway musical meets arena rock – and the whole thing is so …
Cuts Like a Knife (1983) by Bryan Adams
I’m Canadian, so like every Canadian under a certain age, I know Adams’ hit singles rather well, whether or not I wanted to know them at all. But this is the first record of his I’ve ever heard. It sounds very much like I would expect Bryan Adams to sound (and I’ve heard the title …
Hysteria (1987) by Def Leppard
I have had a hard time finding this album online; Google Play doesn’t have a license for the early Def Leppard stuff (just their later, better stuff!!) and YouTube is missing a bunch of songs. So I probably shouldn’t review it. But I can and I will.
Works Volume 2 (1977) by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Years ago, when I was still young enough to maintain that ELP was a truly great band, I gave this a listen or three and rated 6/10. I think I wanted to believe the common idea that this is better than Volume 1 because at least here the bands sometimes sounds like ELP. Well, there’re …